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June 27, 2011

Are spiral staircases suitable for the elderly or less able bodied.

Obviously less able bodied people are likely to have problems with staircases of all types not just spiral staircases, the Building Regulations do their best to make stairs including spiral staircases as safe to use as is practicable.

I am no expert in the field mobility for the disabled but offer the following as my personal opinion of how spiral staircases may work as compared to alternative stairs. I would suggest that good advice could also be found by contacting the appropriate Association covering a specific disability, such as the RNIB for those with eye sight problems.

My personal opinion is that spiral staircases are as safe if not safer than any other form of staircase. At first glance you may consider that a tapered tread spiral stair has to have problems and therefore my opinion is biased, but my reasons are as follows.

  • Everyone not just the disabled tend to walk up the outside of a spiral staircase ie. at the widest and safest part of the tread with their hand on the handrail.
  • Once on the spiral stair the ascending is consistent unlike stairs with quarter landing or turns in straight flight using winding treads. There is no fear of a change of direction. It is really like those helical access ramps that access multi storey car parks, your first reaction is one of panic but once on the thing there is nothing else to do but hold the steering wheel still and enjoy the ride.
  • The helical handrail is joy to use once you hand is on it, it stays there all the way to the top, you are unlikely to meet newel posts or gaps as you could when a straight stair turns corners etc. You also get a feeling of confidence knowing the the centre pole is consistently on the other side of the tread from the handrail
  • Most important of all I believe that should you be unfortunate enough to fall while on a staircase, then a spiral staircase is your stair of choice. The helical nature of a spiral staircase means that whatever happens you are unlikely to fall far before your movement is stopped by the balustrade, unlike a typical straight flight where you could end up doing a Charlie Chaplin 'prat fall' from top to bottom

      • The spiral staircase Doctor

June 20, 2011

Can a Karina space saver stair fit between standard 16 inch joist spacings.

Sorry but old man that I am I have to convert 16" to 400mm (approx), but a good question anyway.

The actual width of a Karina space saver stair tread is 540mm onto which you have to add a balustrade 30mm and then say another 30mm so that the handrail does not touch the opening as it passes through it. So in total you have a minimum of 600mm which will clearly not pass through a 400mm centre-to-centre joist spacings which would have an actual clear space of about 350mm.

In practice is is usually not that difficult to trim a traditional cut roof structure to form a wider opening in the ceiling joists in order to install a space saver stair. You will probably find that the existing loft hatch has done exactly that. The situation is quite different however if your roof structure consists of more modern gang nail trusses. These are not really designed to be trimmed and you should professional seek advice before you attempt this.

Once you have decided to enlarge the space to take the space saver Karina stair I personally would make the opening at least 700mm wide. You will find that this extra space makes the loft more comfortable to access, particularly when you are trying to force your old 26 inch tube TV into loft in the belief that one day they will be collectable.

The stair Doctor

June 14, 2011

What are treads made of on a Genius spiral staircases.

The Genius spiral stair, the Klan spiral stair and just about any other spiral staircase kit has treads made of a composite solid wood treads. This relatively new product is not plywood, it consists of short strips of wood that are glued together to make up a solid whole. This product is used these days in just about anything made with wood particularly furniture and stairs, it has the advantage that wide sheets can be made up which are less susceptible to warping than a single continuous sheet of wood. The Klan spiral stair and most other entry level kits stairs uses beech hardwood but you can also get just about any joinery quality hardwood made up this way if you are prepared to pay for it.

Personally I like natural beech as a spiral staircase timber, it is not the most expensive timber which appeals to an old miser like me. I also think that natural beech in staircase has a light neutral knot free appearance that can match most décors. However should want an alternative shade bear in mind that the Genius spiral staircases also have three stained beech colours, or you can even have natural unvarnished beech treads for self staining and sealing.

The staircase Doctor

June 06, 2011

Do you have to have 220mm centre going on treads of spiral staircases

You would be amazed at how many building designers put this as a requirement on their design drawings for domestic spiral staircases. The reality is that you could in theory design spiral staircases with a 220mm centre going, but in practice it would probably cause problems particularly smaller diameter spiral stairs.

For those who do not know what we are talking about 220mm is the minimum required by part K of the England Wales Building Regulations for the depth of tread that you have available to stand on, it is measured from tread nosing-to-tread nosing . However spiral staircases are invariably designed to comply with the British standard BS 5395 part 2 which is an acceptable alternative under Building Regulations. The reason for this is that the BS is specifically for spiral stairs and gets over some awkward anomalies that Part K insists on for staircases in general.

So for instance under the BS the centre going for a small spiral stair serving say a one room loft conversion need only be 145mm not 220mm. The reason for this difference I have explained in other blogs but it worth doing again because it is important.

A centre going of 220mm on a small spiral staircase, lets say 1500mm diameter, would have the effect of reducing the pitch angle, this in turn has the effect of compressing the helix formed by the staircase. This would mean that the vertical gap between one tread and a higher up tread above it would be reduced. So you get to the situation where you bang your head on the upper tread as you ascend the spiral staircase. The Building Regulations require that you maintain 2000mm head clearance height on any stair so this would be unacceptable.

The conclusion is if you want a spiral staircase use the requirements of the BS and forget part K everything will be honky dory.

The spiral staircase Doctor